HISTORY
After initial contact with Chelsea Football
Club had been made, the requirements for
forming an official supporters club in Gibraltar
were explained to over fifty supporters
in attendance at the inaugural meeting held
at the John Mackintosh Hall on the 6th August
1997. At this meeting the idea of forming
the club was accepted by those present and
the Chelsea Supporters Club in Gibraltar
was formed and constituted, with a committee
elected to run the club.
A local bar known as Rodolfo’s
was the first ‘home’ to the
new club. With the consent of the owners,
club paraphernalia was put up, and it
was from here that club members were able
to watch the first televised live matches.
It soon became apparent that other premises
would have to be sought. Contact was made
with Lions Football Club and a room was
set-aside at their premises for the supporters
club. This arrangement worked well for
a while, but members expressed a wish
to have more favourable conditions for
our club. With this in mind, the committee
looked at several options that became
available, and in the end opted for a
move to the GGCA/Prospect premises at
7 Hargraves Ramp.
PRESENT
Last year the supporters club grew considerably
and with our very own website now up and
running, we hope to reach out to more
supporters, both locally and overseas.
In this respect, Chelsea supporters from
all over the world, who happen to be visiting
Gibraltar, are most welcome to pop into
the club.
The club now has two football teams in
the GFA Junior Football League (JFL).
An Under 13 football team, which last
year played in the Under 11 league, and
an Under 11 all girls
football team.
As a supporters club we organise various
trips to England and Europe to see Chelsea
play. At the last home match of the previous
season, in which we beat Liverpool to
qualify for the preliminaries of the Champions
league, we made a presentation to the
legendary Gianfranco Zola on the Stamford
Bridge pitch. Plans are already in place
to make another presentation this season.
FUTURE
With more and more Chelsea supporters
joining the club through word of mouth,
newspaper adverts and now online, we look
forward to a continued growth in membership.
There are also hopes of further expanding
our recruitment for both junior and senior
football players, which we trust will
form the nucleus of the future generations
of members of the club.
If you are interested and committed to
manage either a senior or junior football
(Under 7, Under 9 & Under 11) for
next season (2005/2006), the Club is looking
for managers/coaches. However you need
to have a Junior Football Manager’s
qualification and the GFA is organising
a course(s) soon for this qualification.
We are also looking for qualified referees,
since without a qualified referee we are
unable to register a senior team. Again
the GFA is organising referee courses
to this effect. So there you are any qualified
(junior & senior) football coaches
interested in helping should contact the
committee, as soon as possible please.
